Diane Abbott, the shadow public health minister, said: "This long-term privatisation project may well end up marginalising our NHS maternity services, and draining them of resources ... having directly promised an extra 3,000 midwives before the election, what we now see from this government is NHS maternity services being sidelined and privatised."

The Northern Rock privatisation is a joke, the Government won't tell the public (who are funding the purchase) what the current figures are, they want to exempt the Northern Rock from the Freedom of Information Act so as to keep hidden the costs of nationalisation and to prevent the new owners of the bank (us) from examining the books too closely.

I dont want to strike, none of my colleagues want to strike and I think the concept of striking would be playing into the government hands as I think that they are trying to sneek in privatisation via the back door and this would give them the opportunity they require.

"We campaigned for the ANC in numerous elections on the basis of their manifestos and congress resolutions - which promise a strong, developmental state, and do not mention the word privatisation anywhere."

In his widely circulated feature article titled 'Ghana Commercial Bank, the elephant in the living room,' he wrote, "Though I know that the word privatisation is an anathema to a lot of Ghanaian intellectuals that is what I will shout from the rooftops."